Press Releases

Entries in Election 2012
(2175)

Today, it was reported that Minnesota Governor and 2012 hopeful Tim Pawlenty has set up state fundraising committees in Iowa and New Hampshire. Please see below for a response from DNC National Press Secretary Hari Sevugan:

“It's nice that Tim Pawlenty has found a way to help politicians from other states who can help his political ambitions. Too bad he couldn't do the same for the families of Minnesota who he was elected to serve with his draconian budget cuts. It looks like if you want Tim Pawlenty to work for you these days, you need to live in Iowa or New Hampshire, not Minnesota.”

Sunday was a great day. I rode in the 41st Annual Gay Pride Parade down Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood. We were the 9th car in the parade, directly behind California Assembly Speaker John Perez. I was the only Republican in the entire parade. Oh, well, next year maybe there will be more.

I had a team of friends helping out. All wore Fred Who? T-shirts and tank tops and walked along the car. These dedicated friends handed out 25,000 Fred Who? Cards along the parade route, which directed people to our brand new and improved web site: www.fredkarger.com (more on the official launch soon). The site got so many hits yesterday, it was slow-going.

Now would be the time to visit the site, even before it goes public, because you will really have fun exploring wwwfredkarger.com

Special thanks to all who helped out yesterday. It was a very fun and exciting day!

Here are some of the photos, thanks to Santiago Bisso:

Leading the way with the jumbo banner, Melanie and Craig

Everyone loves a Parade. 400,000 people attended Pride and the Parade in West Hollywood Sunday

With Brian at the wheel, we had a great ride down Santa Monica Blvd.

We were car #9 right behind the Speaker of the California Assembly, John Perez

NEWS FROM THE FRONT is your daily wrap-up of information affecting the conservative movement! For more information or media inquires, please contact editor@c-hq.com.

Could Winning The House In 2010 Cost the GOP in 2012?Daily Caller- 2010 is shaping up to be a promising year for the Republican Party in federal elections, but the prospect of winning back the House has some in the GOP worried about a potential voter backlash heading into the presidential election of 2012. Some fear (and based on recent history, justifiably so) that Republicans would be unwilling or unable to make the government spending cuts that voters want - and that would only increase conservatives' disillusionment with the GOP.

Cantor and McCarthy Join Others in Backing Tim ScottNational Review Online(blog) - Conservatives and Republicans are lining up to back Tim Scott in South Carolina's 1st district runoff election, with House GOP leaders Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy joining Sen. Jim DeMint and the Club for Growth in praising Scott. The unique aspect of the contest is the fact that Scott, if successful, would be the first black Republican elected from the South since reconstruction - but thankfully, race has not been a factor in the campaign thus far.

GOP Missed Opportunity With Paul's RemarksWashington Examiner- Gregory Kane writes of the opportunity the Republican Party missed in reacting to the remarks made by Kentucky GOP U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul on the Civil Rights Act. Kane says Paul's comments provided the perfect chance for Republicans to point out that it's the Democratic Party that champions racial discrimination through affirmative action and various other forms of overt racial preferences.

Stutzman's Next Battle On Road To WashingtonIndiana's NewsCenter- Marlin Stutzman drew the attention of national conservatives during his recent unsuccessful run for Indiana's GOP U.S. Senate nomination (which went to the Party establishment candidate, Dan Coats), but he's being given a 'second chance' to head to Washington as the Republican nominee from Indiana's 3rd congressional district (with the seat being vacated by the disgraced Rep. Mark Souder).

Tea Party Favorite Clint Didier Fires Up Washington GOP ConventionPolitics Daily(blog) - Former Washington Redskin Clint Didier has already spent a great deal of time in the nation's capital, but he's now running for the U.S. Senate from the state of Washington - and by the sound of the ovation he received at the state's GOP convention, he's a favorite of conservatives in the northwest. Didier is running as the conservative outsider in the race, and says if he heads back to Washington D.C, he'll be 'taking heat' with him.

Star Parker: Can Republicans Win the Hispanic Vote?World Net Daily- Star Parker looks at the future of the Republican Party from a demographic standpoint and says it doesn't look bright for the GOP unless it can make headway into the Hispanic population. Parker argues the GOP can woo Hispanic conservative voters by presenting the stark contrast between Texas and California - both with large Hispanic populations, but headed in two different directions in terms of economic success and governmental philosophy.

Why Is Mitt Flattering Rudy?American Spectator(blog) - Philip Klein notes the recent efforts from 2008 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney to make amends with his former opponents, the latest being effusive praise for Rudy Giuliani in an op-ed on leadership qualities. Klein says Romney was by far the most disliked candidate amongst his Republican rivals, and has spent much of the time since trying to heal any potential hurt feelings leftover from the campaign.

If he seeks higher office on a platform of fiscal conservatism, Tim Pawlenty will have the battle scars to prove it.

As governor of Minnesota, the only state Reagan lost in his 1984 re-election bid, Pawlenty has worked to reverse a culture of big government that saw spending increase an average of 21 percent per budget biennium from 1960 until his inauguration. He has been successful in keeping the state budget in balance throughout his tenure while keeping the pledge he made to constituents never to raise their taxes.

One tool at his disposal to check the growth of government is known as unallotment – an authority unique to Minnesota that allows the governor to make unilateral spending cuts even after a budget is passed and signed into law. Pawlenty has used his unallotment authority multiple times during his governorship, most notably last summer, when he cut $2.7 billion in spending to reflect the reality of the economic downturn. Where Democrats in the legislature sought to raise taxes to eliminate the shortfall, Gov. Pawlenty correctly observed that spending, not revenue, was the problem plaguing Minnesota’s state budget.

A recent Minnesota Supreme Court decision threatens to reverse many of last year’s unallotments. Employing a healthy dose of judicial activism, the Court ruled 4-to-3 that Pawlenty exceeded his authority in cutting some $5 million from a state diet program, potentially opening the door to a flood of lawsuits seeking to restore unallotted funding. As a result, the state budget deficit ballooned from some $500 million to roughly $3 billion.

Gov. Pawlenty reaffirmed his aversion to higher taxes in an already oppressively overtaxed state when the Democrat-controlled legislature promptly passed a budget with a $400 million income tax increase. The governor happily vetoed.

Pawlenty’s argument to Democratic leadership, who argued in favor of the Court’s ruling in an amicus brief, is simple: You got what you asked for. By calling on the Court to reverse last year’s principled unallotments, they have neatly made the case Americans for Tax Reform and others have been making for years: Spending, not revenue, is the driver of budget deficits. Those who expressly advocated for higher spending have promptly and voluntarily increased the state budget hole nearly six-fold.

The overspending problem has become a topic of national conversation with respect to the federal government, but it is even more pressing at the state level. State government frivolity during periods of economic boom have led to full-on crises in the midst of this recession, with appropriators unable to fulfill obligations like lavish public sector wages, benefits, and pensions or automatic increases in education budgets. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that almost every state – including Minnesota – has a constitutional obligation to balance its budget. Unlike the federal government, states cannot print money.

That means one of three options: higher taxes, more borrowing and budget gimmicks, or spending reductions. Governors like David Paterson, Mark Parkinson, Charlie Crist, and Ted Strickland have opted to raise taxes to fund their spending addictions. Blue state governors like Chris Christie and Tim Pawlenty have made the commonsense argument that the last way to promote economic growth is to pass anti-growth tax hikes.

Looking forward to 2012, few potential candidates in the Republican field will have been as battle-tested as Pawlenty. Rather than apologize for principled spending cuts brought on by virtue of economic necessity, he continues to push for structural budgetary reforms such as a constitutional cap on government spending and a 20 percent cut in Minnesota’s sky-high corporate income tax rate.

Pawlenty recently won his showdown with the state legislature on the tax-and-spend issue by securing passage of a budget deal that ratifies most of last year’s unallotments and balances the budget with no tax increases. He has officially solidified his fiscally conservative credentials leading up to a probable 2012 candidacy. And with a president in the White House who has repeatedly violated his “firm pledge” not to raise taxes on families making under $250,000, Pawlenty presents a clear and welcome contrast. He’s promised not to raise taxes and followed through time after time.

Joshua Culling is state affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform, which fights for lower, flatter and fairer taxes. He coordinates ATR’s advocacy efforts in 17 states.﻿

Remember that slogan “Just Do It!” Well, Southern California political consultant Fred Karger took that to heart and hit the road to explore the possibility of becoming a candidate for the presidential nomination from the Republican Party. His latest missive from the road finds him in Iowa.

If you think this is just play – consider this: the Chicago Tribune’s Jon Margolis did a story on Fred called “The Gayest Republican.”

Here’s the open:

“Ye who doubt that the 2012 presidential campaign has begun, consider this: Fred Karger campaigned in Iowa this week and spent several days in New Hampshire earlier this month.

Fred Who?

Ah, he’s anticipated that. Those are the very words on the logo atop his web site.

The answer to that “Fred Who?” question is “Fred Karger,” a 60-year-old Illinois-bred Californian who is the first person to be openly (if, for legal-financial reasons, not yet officially) campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination.

Also the first openly gay candidate to seek the presidential nomination of either major party, ever.

And here’s Fred’s note from Iowa:

Dear Karen –

I’m on day 3 of a 6-day Iowa visit. I started out Sunday night in Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa. Had some meetings Monday with some influential business owners and LGBTQ activists. I showered them with gifts, an American / Rainbow flag lapel pin and a Fred Who? – New Hampshire license plate T-shirt.

Then off to Des Moines, Monday night to meet up with campaign aide, Kevin Miniter. Caught the tail end of One Iowa’s First Annual Business Symposium. One Iowa is led by the smart and glamorous Executive Director, Carolyn Jenison. They put on a stellar daylong event that brought together major corporations and over 100 LGBTQ attendees from all over Iowa.

Then two days in the capital of meetings with political reporters, LGBTQ leaders, and politicos. In spite of severe weather all day that included pea to penny size hail, about 20 people braved the elements and attended this historic event. The reception was held at the trendy, year old Dos Rios Restaurant downtown. The margaritas and guacamole flowed.

﻿

I was able to spend a lot of time talking to everyone there. I got to hear what was on their minds: immigration, education, health care and even marijuana legalization. The economy isn’t quite as bad in Iowa as in many other parts of the country. Unemployment hovers at 7.4%, still way too high. It has nearly doubled in just the last two years from 3.8%. In California, where I live, it’s 13%!

It was quite a night.

Iowa is a very exciting place to be. It is so rich in all its wonderful history. I love all the stories about Presidential campaigns past. It’s fun to go to restaurants and bars and hear who had come in over the years and even where they sat.

Iowa is retail politics at its best.

One interesting note – I have met many men my age and younger (I’m 60) who were married and came out later in life, divorced and now out to their teenage and older children. Lots of gay and lesbian Iowans move to Des Moines from all over the state. There is a thriving LGBTQ community here. Lots of prominent gays and lesbians in business, politics, etc.

Iowa City has 3rd largest per capita LGBT population in the country. Real college town – U of Iowa. It’s sometimes referred to as “People’s Republic”….Poll yesterday (early results) in Des Moines Register for possible Republican candidate for president had ‘other’ winning with 20%, Romney was next with 11%.

Lots of dissatisfaction with government. Have not come across any real Tea Partiers yet, but there is definitely a growing unhappiness with all levels of government.

The economy is more stable here. Agriculture #1 industry in Iowa, not nearly as affected. Des Moines second to Hartford, CT as home to insurance companies (who are very supportive of LGBT organizations), also pretty recession proof. Marriage equality has settled in after a year with the public here, but is being used as a wedge issue in many state house elections this year.

Iowa primary is also June 8th and anti-incumbency is big here. Immigration issue is very passionate on both sides. I get an ear full. And younger people want to legalize and tax marijuana. Keep the money here, not give it to drug cartels. Just some observations.